A lot of people who are considering starting a grow operation often assume that growing indoors is the best way to go. For a long time, because of issues of legalization, indoor growing was the best way to produce a high quality product while staying under the radar. However, given the resources now on the market, indoor growing is no longer the ideal set up.

There are many risks that come with an indoor growing operation. Some of these include house or building fires caused by electricity overload, mold and mildew buildup in structure, large energy consumptions, and a higher risk of pest and infection of plants.

Most of the long-term extensive damage occurs due to toxic molds and mildews. These can develop in a matter of a few short months and require very expensive structural repairs to eliminate. Some mold damage is so toxic, extensive and irreparable that homes or buildings are permanently ruined and no longer hold their value.

To set up an indoor grow that won’t damage your building or cause pest infestations, you need an expensive array of equipment.

The reason you need all this expensive equipment to grow plants indoors comes down to the way plants grow and the type of environment they thrive in.

Plants breathe out most of water that they absorb through their roots. This biological process is called transpiration. Up to 95% of the water plants absorb from their nutrient solution is expelled back out into the environment.

In a confined environment, this excess moisture in the air will cause humidity build up. If this unwanted moisture is not dealt with in a timely manner, either via temperature/humidity variance or by dehumidification methods, high moisture levels in the grow room will slow down plant growth, and may cause mold and mildew build up on the plants and in the growing environment.

Another issue that can cause your temperature/humidity variance to get off kilter is the use of growing lights in indoor operations. Standard grow lights (HPS, MH, CFL) give off a lot of heat. This will cause your temperature to climb if the proper ventilation and cooling systems are not included. Newer LED grow lights are much more efficient when it comes to energy use and heat output, but their upfront cost is often too much for growers to swallow.

It can be particularly difficult to keep the relative humidity in an indoor grow room at a stable level without a lot of extra equipment, because you can’t use the air circulation naturally provided by being outdoors. A confined environment means putting in extra fans, air conditioning units, and dehumidifiers to keep a constant agreeable environment for the plants.

Here are 3 ways your product and budget can benefit from growing in a light deprivation greenhouse:

It’s Less Expensive

When growing in a greenhouse, initial cost of required equipment is much less. The structure itself will be easier and cheaper to erect than building a warehouse on your property. Being able to utilize the natural environment for airflow and light means there are fewer obstacles in your way of a high quality product. And with light deprivation techniques, you can still harvest 3-5 times a year!

Especially when growing during the spring and summer seasons, environmental control can be much easier to manage, as you can utilize functions of the greenhouse not available in indoor setups. With the right greenhouse covering, you can combat heat from the beginning. Poly coverings like SOLARIG™(read more on Solarig in our post The Best Greenhouse covering for You) have IR additives that help reduce the amount of heat build up in your greenhouse in those hot summer months. You can also install roll up sides for your clear poly walls to keep a free exchange of air, making sure your plants are breathing in plenty of CO2. Anti-insect netting can be installed to keep out unwanted pests. Including an exhaust fan and some circulation fans to keep the ridge air moving will help keep a uniform temperature/humidity variance throughout the greenhouse for your plants to thrive.

The Grower Benefits from Natural Growing Conditions

Being able to utilize the natural light and airflow around you means less stress over maintaining your environment. There are now some great environmental controllers on the market to help automate all of your equipment. You can now set heating, cooling, humidity , and lighting stages, so all of your accessories will be running when they are needed and will kick off when they’ve done their job. This helps save on energy costs and the time/labor it takes to run it all manually. When utilizing a light deprivation system, you can set your time points to simulate a 12 and 12 light cycle without pulling a single tarp.

Grow Bigger Yields Without Sacrificing Quality

There’s nothing like the pure power of the sun to grow bigger, healthier plants that produce the big fat kolas you’re looking for. With Solarig’s light diffusing properties, light will be evenly dispersed through every corner of your greenhouse, no matter the angle it enters from. This will help ensure that all of your plants are getting the light they need. With anti-drip additives, you can combat mold and mildew issues that arise from condensation raining down on your plants. Also, with greenhouse growing, you are alloted a larger square footage to grow in, because your grow will be classified as an outdoor operation. Utilizing light deprivation techniques allows you to harvest three to four times a year (strain determinate) without any additional supplemental lighting. Growing in an outdoor, light dep greenhouse operation, your projected yields will be roughly 25-30% higher than an indoor operation. And these days, the quality of product developed in a greenhouse environment rivals indoor production in value.

This is why we highly recommend starting, or switching over to a light dep greenhouse growing operation. Here at Fullbloom, we provide all the components you need to ensure you are growing a high quality product with as little cost and risk to the grower as possible.